The pages you link to and how you link to them are important from an accessibility, user experience, SEO, and HLS branding perspective. 

Link Text

The text you use when linking should give the reader a good indication of where they’re going. It should be unique, when possible, and less than a sentence long. Do not use text like “click here” or “read more” as links because they don’t describe where a user will go if they click. 

Typically, your link text will be the title of the page section you are linking to. When linking to a form or document, make that clear in your text. 

Here are some examples of good link text: 

“For more information about the J.D. Program, please see the Handbook of Academic Policies, Section I. Requirements for the J.D. Degree.”

“Visit Contact Information and Directions for more information.”

“In a December Harvard Law Today profile, Carryl credited the support he received…”

Internal Linking

When linking internally, highlight the anchor text you want to link. A list will appear when you begin to type a page name:

You can choose from this list or manually enter the URL to which you want to link.

Internal links help users get information they need in a logical flow, and also allow search engines to understand how pages are related. 

The broader the topic of your page, the more internal (and potentially external) links it will have. Parent pages should have links to child pages, as well as other parent pages of related topics. There is no hard-and-fast rule for this, but think logically about the order your reader is likely to need information. 

Using Housing as an example, readers are likely to want to first read about the residences, then look at comparison or FAQ pages, then go to the application page. So, the residences pages should have links to comparison/FAQ pages, and those should have links to the application page. 

External Linking

Links to other sites are useful and necessary. Just keep a couple things in mind: 

1. When taking a user off the HLS site, use link text that indicates where they are going. For instance: 

“Biden was quoted in The New York Times…” 

“Resources can be found in the Hollis Catalog…” 

2. Don’t link to an external site that you do not trust. At best, this can create a bad experience and potentially ding our Google authority; at worst, it can expose users to malware. If you’re unsure, try to find the information on a site that you know and trust. 

It used to be standard practice to set links to open in new tabs or new windows, but this is no longer the case. Opening links in a new window is confusing for people using site readers, so please do not set your links to open in new tabs or windows.